Top 20 Microfinance Banks in Nigeria (2024 Updated)

The Central Bank of Nigeria has officially authorized 719 microfinance banks, so those in need of financial services have plenty of options available at their disposal.

These microfinance banks play an important role in providing key financial solutions such as loans, savings, and local money transfers, particularly to individuals who are frequently disregarded by traditional banks—think market women, unemployed adolescents, and low-income earners.

In a country as large as Nigeria, where only roughly 64% of adults have access to financial services, the value of microfinance institutions cannot be overemphasized. 

Many are rising to the challenge, making a big contribution to financial inclusion. So, how do we know the top microfinance banks authorized by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)?

From my research, I judged them based on client satisfaction, innovation, and service quality. 

Stay tuned as we reveal the top 20 microfinance banks in Nigeria that are not just setting standards but also exceeding them. 

First of all, let’s understand what a microfinance bank is.

What is a Microfinance Bank?

Microfinance banks are central bank-licensed financial entities that provide financial services to the economy’s microsector. Microfinance activities may include the following:

• Accepting deposits and savings from lower-income individuals, groups, and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises,
• providing short-term loans to individuals, groups, and MSMEs,
• domestic funds transfer and
• non-financial services.

Microfinance banks play a critical role in an economy since their objectives include:

• To make financial services available to potentially productive unbanked members of society.
• To integrate the informal sector into the financial system.
• Improve financial service delivery to MSMEs.
• To eliminate gender disparity by increasing women’s access to financial services.
• To serve as a conduit for government and development bank empowerment projects to reach rural inhabitants, smallholder farmers, craftsmen, and others.
• Promote agricultural development and sustainability.

Microfinance banks and fintech companies both play vital roles in Nigeria’s financial inclusion efforts. 

In the section below, we have listed the top 20 microfinance banks in Nigeria.

Keep reading!

Top 20 Microfinance Banks in Nigeria

1. LAPO Microfinance Bank

LAPO Microfinance Bank was founded with the primary goal of assisting underprivileged Nigerians in dealing with the hard economic realities that followed General Ibrahim Babangida’s Structural Adjustment Programme in the 1980s.

LAPO Microfinance has subsequently become one of Nigeria’s most reputable MFBs, thanks to its constant efforts to ensure that low-income Nigerian households have access to finances for economic empowerment.

LAPO is a household name in Nigeria’s microfinance industry, and it has been named the best financially inclusive microfinance bank in Nigeria for 2022.

2. ACCION Microfinance Bank Limited

Established in 2006. ACCION Microfinance Bank launched operations in 2007, intending to empower MSMEs and low-income individuals.

The bank provides sustainable, ethical, and profitable financial services such as loans for small businesses, mortgages, education, and much more.

You can acquire rapid loans of up to N150,000 through ACCION’s mobile banking or USSD channels.

3. Mutual Trust Microfinance Bank

Mutual Trust MFB is one of Nigeria’s leading providers of microfinance services.

Since April 2016, the bank has been renamed as Mutual Trust Microfinance Bank Limited, and its management has changed. 

Since then, the company has been working to reinvent microfinance services in Nigeria.

The organization offers exceptional financial services by utilizing cutting-edge technologies and a highly skilled workforce.

It takes fewer than 10 minutes to apply for a loan with the organization, and the application is accepted within 10 hours after screening.

It provides incredibly flexible repayment arrangements, allowing consumers to effortlessly repay their loans with minimal worry.

4. AB Microfinance Bank

AB Microfinance Bank is a leading microfinance bank in Nigeria.

The bank, dubbed “a socially responsible bank of choice for micro and small enterprises,” was founded in 2008.

It provides microloans, SME loans, and home loans.

Bank users can also open savings, current, and fixed deposit accounts, as well as use mobile banking services.

5. KUDA Microfinance Bank

KUDA Microfinance Bank is one of the MFBs that is revolutionizing microfinance services in Nigeria by using financial technologies.

The company, which began as Kudimoney, provides online savings and digital lending. It then changed its name to KUDA, raised over $90 million in funding, and became well-known among young people as “the bank of the free.”

KUDA Bank has grown to become a prominent microfinance bank, with millions of people downloading its apps from app stores and new users signing up daily. 

Its simplified banking app makes it simple to register and gain access to a wide range of banking services.

6. Assets Microfinance Bank

The Central Bank of Nigeria founded Assets Microfinance Bank to provide personal, business, and payday loans to Nigerians.

The bank also provides savings and investment services.

It offers unique goods aimed primarily at empowering businesses.

7. Fina Trust Microfinance Bank

Fina Trust Microfinance Bank is a leading microfinance bank in Nigeria.

Fina Trust Microfinance Bank, founded in 2009, is an associate of the LOLC Group, Sri Lanka’s largest non-banking corporate company.

The bank offers a variety of financial services, including rapid loans, salary advances, SME loans, education loans, financial asset financing, savings accounts, current accounts, and fixed deposit accounts.

8. Sparkle Microfinance Bank

Sparkle Microfinance Bank was created in 2019 by Uzoma Dozie, former MD of the defunct Diamond Bank.

The bank, which uses technology to provide financial services via a mobile app, says it wants to make access to individuals and small businesses easier.

9. BoI Microfinance Bank

BoI Microfinance Bank is a subsidiary of the Bank of Industry, a Nigerian government-owned development bank.

The Bank of Industry was founded to provide financial help for the start-up of small, medium, and large businesses, as well as the expansion, diversification, and modernization of existing ones.

Its Microfinance Bank serves SMEs and low-income earners. Apart from loans, BoI Microfinance Bank also offers savings deposit services. 

The bank’s commitment is to stimulate entrepreneurship by providing accessible loans. Founded in 2002, the bank receives money from its parent bank, the Bank of Industry.

10. NIRSAL Microfinance Bank

NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) is a Nigerian financial institution regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide specialized banking services. 

NMFB was formed as a Private Limited Company in 2019 and began operations after being granted a National Microfinance Bank license by the Central Bank of Nigeria the same year.

NIRSAL Microfinance Bank is essentially an intervention bank, providing a feasible avenue for the Central Bank of Nigeria to lend special money to qualified Nigerian individuals. 

The bank is 75% owned by the Bankers Committee, 15% by NIRSAL, and 10% by NIPOST.

NIRSAL Microfinance Bank is currently headquartered in Abuja and operates 115 locations across the Federation.

NMFB offers micro-savings, microloans, and school-targeted loans.

11. Abia State University Microfinance Bank Limited

The bank received a provisional license on May 31, 1995, and was admitted to Nigeria’s Community Banking System by the National Board for Community Banks on July 4, 1996. 

The bank was incorporated as a Private Limited Liability Company under the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990 on September 3, 1996, and began operations on October 10, 1996. 

On January 24, 2002, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued the bank its final license as a community bank.

12. Abigi Microfinance Bank(AMFB)

On June 22, 1993, the bank was formed under the Companies and Allied Matters Act of 1990 and granted a provisional license to operate as a community bank. It began operations in July 1993. 

The Central Bank of Nigeria gave the bank a full community license on May 21, 2004. Before the conversion to a Microfinance Bank, the bank’s share capital was N20,654,000.

13. Above Only Microfinance Bank

The Archbishop Benson Idahosa Foundation established Above Only Microfinance Bank Limited, which was formed at the Corporate Affairs Commission on January 5, 2015. 

On September 11, 2015, the Central Bank of Nigeria licensed it to conduct microfinance bank activity in Nigeria. 

On January 3, 2016, the bank officially began operations at its current premises on the Benson Idahosa University Campus in Ugbor G.R.A Benin City.

Above Only Microfinance Bank Limited is on a mission to deliver a wide range of first-class services to our customers in an internationally acknowledged format, intending to empower a large number of micro, small, and medium-sized businesses through a highly dedicated workforce and technology. 

14. Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) Microfinance Bank

The ATBU Microfinance Bank is a unique financial organization dedicated to developing financial inclusion and moving dreams ahead, located in the heart of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU).

The Nigerian microfinance bank ATBU is aware of the particular needs and challenges faced by people and small businesses needing financial assistance.

By providing various lending products and services, the bank enables its customers to take control of their financial future.

ATBU Microfinance Bank serves a varied clientele, offering numerous lending agencies to meet your specific needs:

• Individual Loans
• Group Loans
• Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs)

15. Abucoop Microfinance Bank Limited 

Abucoop Microfinance Bank Limited is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide banking services, particularly to NNPC employees, and low-income micro and small entrepreneurs, following the Banking and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) of 1991.  

In addition to their other assets in the NNPC Multipurpose Cooperative Society Abuja, ABUCOOP Microfinance Bank Limited is a microfinance banking enterprise with an asset base of over ten billion Naira in:

• Petro Service Station (NNPC Mega Station)
• Departmental Stores
• Real Estate and Properties etc

16. Abulesoro Microfinance Bank

Abulesoro Microfinance Bank Limited (AMFB) is a new bank that intends to provide financial services to grassroots and low-income individuals.

Abulesoro Microfinance Bank Limited was established in Nigeria on December 19, 2018, under the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act CAP C20 LFN 2004 as amended, with the registration number 1548871.

It began operations on July 1, 2019. The Central Bank of Nigeria granted it a license to conduct microfinance banking operations.

17. Banex Microfinance Bank Limited

Banex Microfinance Bank Limited will be a premier service-oriented and gender-sensitive microfinance organization that provides efficient and cheap financial services to low-income clients, pulling them out of poverty.

To meet best practices in microfinance banking, such as empowering people economically, expanding outreach to the active poor, particularly vulnerable women, and encouraging entrepreneurial spirit among our small business clients.

18. Baobab Microfinance Bank

Baobab loan packages are location-based financial services designed for individuals who own businesses in specific places. 

With only five eligible locations (Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, Abuja, and Kaduna), Baobab loans are designed to help micro, medium, and small enterprises thrive through accessible financing.

19. Fairmoney MFB LTD

FairMoney Microfinance Bank is the most popular fintech app in Nigeria. With over 10,000 daily loan disbursements and over 5 million customers enjoying banking, savings, and investing services, FairMoney provides the typical Nigerian with access to financial instruments that allow them to take control of their lives and finances.

20. Fullrange Microfinance Bank Ltd

Fullrange Microfinance Bank is a rapidly growing financial organization dedicated to mobilizing resources, providing financial services, and empowering the underbanked and unbanked while maintaining a continuous engagement with them throughout their financial lives. 

The bank was licensed by the CBN in May 2016, and operations commenced on July 3, 2017.

Fullrange MFB takes pride in its original concepts, which help the bank maintain a competitive edge in today’s fast-paced digital environment.

Conclusion

It is worth noting that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) oversees and supervises the activities of the country’s microfinance banks to ensure their stability and compliance with regulatory rules. Customers can also register complaints with the CBN if they have problems with their microfinance institution.

To summarize, microfinance banks play an important part in Nigeria’s financial inclusion initiatives by providing access to financial services to people who are underserved or excluded from traditional banking systems. 

The top 20 microfinance banks listed above have demonstrated a strong dedication to servicing their customers and contributing to Nigeria’s economic growth.

READ: How to Apply For A Microfinance Bank Loan in Nigeria

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